Article on New Hampshire’s “quiet” innovation highlights NERCRD research

In this opinion piece written for the New Hampshire Business Review, Dr. Charlie French (University of New Hampshire Extension) cites NERCRD research on “latent” or hidden innovation, and provides several examples of “quiet innovation” from rural New Hampshire communities that are leading to gains in employment, income, and quality of life. Dr. French leads UNH Extension’s Community and Economic Development team.

Webinar Recording: Food Recovery for Rhode Island — Cultivating Community-Led Solutions to Food Access and Food Waste

March 17, 2025

A recording is now available of the April 2025 webinar presentation by University of Rhode Island’s Dr. Amanda Missimer and Vanessa Venturini, who will share the story of Food Recovery for Rhode Island—a Cooperative Extension community development train-the-trainer program that simultaneously addresses food waste, food insecurity and climate change.

Celebrating 25 years of leadership!

March 11, 2025

Since joining the Penn State faculty in 1999 as NERCRD’s Director, Stephan Goetz has shaped its development as a high-performing organization that has made numerous contributions to the understanding and practice of rural community and economic development.

“Addressing the Housing Crisis” is focus of March 12 Land-Use Webinar

March 4, 2025

March 12, 2025 at 12:00 p.m. ET — This webinar will explore a collaborative approach being taken in New Hampshire to address the housing crisis. The webinar is part of the Land Use Webinar Series, organized by Penn State Extension in partnership with the Pennsylvania Chapter of the American Planning Association (PA-APA) and the Northeast Regional Center for Rural Development.

Webinar Recording: “Marylanders Online: Bridging the Digital Divide in Rural Communities”

February 24, 2025

This webinar took place on March 20, 2025, and a recording is available. University of Maryland Extension’s Teri Mumm and Julie Slivka presented on innovative strategies and initiatives aimed at increasing internet access and digital literacy in Maryland’s rural areas.

Adapting to the Digital Age: Insights from a National Participatory Research Project

January 27, 2025

Researchers from the nation’s four Regional Rural Development Centers (RRDCs) who adapted traditional community-engaged research approaches for an entirely virtual setting have shared their key takeaways and lessons learned in a paper published in Community Development, a peer-reviewed journal of the Community Development Society. The methods they developed can be used by practitioners and researchers […]

Congratulations to Claudia Schmidt, recipient of Northeast “Excellence in Extension” award!

November 19, 2024

Claudia Schmidt, assistant professor of marketing and local/regional food systems in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences and NERCRD Faculty Affiliate, received this year’s Northeast Region Excellence in Extension Award for an Individual, presented by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture and the Cooperative Extension System’s Extension Committee on Organization and […]

Webinar Recording: Engaging Extension and Community Partners for the Creation of Active Transportation Plans

Tuesday, December 10 at 1:00 p.m. ET — The next NERCRD webinar will feature Penn State Extension’s Leadership and Community Vitality team members Neal Fogle and John Turack, who will share their experiences of working with Huntingdon County, PA, on the development and implementation of an Active Transportation Plan (ATP) in collaboration with PA WalkWorks, a PA Department of Health initiative. Learn more and register here.

Report provides details on minority-owned businesses in Northeast states

October 29, 2024

A new research report provides detailed information about minority-owned businesses in the Northeast region. The report, written by West Virginia University’s Xiaoyin Li and Heather M. Stephens and NERCRD’s Stephan Goetz, highlights the differences in minority entrepreneurship across the region, which in turn can support the development of policies to promote minority business development.

Reflections on the Maryland Digital Equity Summit

October 29, 2024

Congratulations to the University of Maryland organizers of the 2024 Maryland Digital Equity Summit, which was held on October 15th in Baltimore. NERCRD Associate Director Stephen Alessi had the opportunity to attend the event and to serve as a panelist discussing the role of higher education in digital equity solutions. Read more for Alessi’s takeaways from the event.

Congratulations to NERCRD research assistant, Dr. Yuxuan Pan!

October 17, 2024

Congratulations to Yuxuan Pan, a Northeast Center research assistant who successfully defended her doctoral dissertation in Agricultural Economics on October 7. Pan’s dissertation explores the impacts of COVID-19 on mental health, disparities in nutritional quality, and the effects of soda taxes on household purchases. Pan will be joining the University of Kentucky as a postdoctoral researcher in December. She will continue providing research support to NERCRD through November.